As Joseph's voice fell, the massive mecha also vanished into thin air.
Tony let out a "Whoa": "Invisibility or spatial storage?"
"Spatial storage." Little Robot nodded in response.
[185, 205, 246: Ready (Electronic Contract). Little Reed has made 132 optimizations for the Mars Base, cultivating 4 independent AIs in charge of different departments to provide computing power for the Interstellar Warp Ship project.. His contributions are sufficient to exchange for the materials needed to manufacture the mecha, including the spare parts required for subsequent repairs.]
Colt looked at the message sent by Timothy, then looked at the mecha that had been pulled into the Ghost field.
So, was it his father's permission or Timothy's contract that met the requirements? Whichever it was, pulling something so massive into the Ghost field as easily as covering a flying skateboard meant that his sufficiently trained Spiritual Power must have upgraded again!
The Interstellar Warp Ship was not heading toward the Earth Simulator.
"Where are we going?" Colt asked via the main screen in the cockpit of the Interstellar Warp Ship.
"You'll find out soon enough." Tony snapped his fingers toward the window.
The next second, Colt saw Thor.
Thor waved at Tony through the glass, then hoisted the Interstellar Warp Ship onto his shoulder and shouted, "Heimdall!"
Colt's vision was covered by seven-colored light, as the light gradually faded, they appeared on the Bifrost.
Thor placed the Interstellar Warp Ship on the plaza in front of the palace in Asgard.
“Welcome to Asgard, Iron Man.”
Tony hugged Thor and introduced Joseph and Colt to him, while Colt controlled Little Robot to say hello.
Thor nodded to Joseph, then took the Little Robot's small hand and gave it a gentle shake. "Hello to you too, little one."
Thor could not see Colt, as the Asgard Divine Realm and the dimensional rift where Colt was located were not connected.
Colt was used to it; the last god he had seen was the Dream Sovereign in his dreams. To be precise, the Dream Sovereign hadn't actually seen him either, but had merely sensed his presence.
Thor was very enthusiastic and led them to pay their respects to Odin All-Father.
Odin All-Father's reaction was much like that of the Dream Sovereign; when Colt observed the All-Father, the All-Father could sense the gaze, looking in Colt's direction and even giving a slight nod, when Colt stopped observing, the All-Father also shifted his gaze away.
After leaving Odin All-Father's palace, Thor held a banquet for them again, also took Tony and Joseph to meet the Dwarf Smith.
Colt was like a Ghost that had clicked the follow button, being led along by a leash; before he could even figure out which parts of Asgard were reflections of Norse mythology, his attention was stolen away by the Dwarf Smith's enchantment.
Is Spiritual Power also divine power? Can it be used for enchantment?
Colt crushed a mecha bullet soaked in Spiritual Power.
Well, the spiritual power enchantment failed.
Colt poked Little Red Bird at the Dream Station. Little Red Bird rolled over and blew a bubble: [88 ↑ Not sleeping tonight..]
Timothy has been exceptionally busy lately. As the end of the year approaches, the company's affairs have become overwhelming, it seems even the villains have KPIs to meet. Timothy has reverted to his previous unhealthy schedule of "90 minutes of work for every 10 minutes of rest," and he hasn't had a full four hours of sleep in two days.
Colt hugged Cole Duck and nuzzled him, then looked toward Joseph, who was organizing the Interstellar Warp Ship's data. Tony had gone to catch up with Thor, leaving only the two of them—father and son—on the Interstellar Warp Ship.
“Dad, when are we going back to Earth Simulator?”
Joseph didn't answer, but instead asked back, "You're the one who insisted on coming along. Do you regret it?"
No, I've learned more in this period than I did in the entire past year." Colt rolled over while holding Cole Duck, "I just don't understand. Researching an Interstellar Warp Ship is a long-term project; it would be normal to spend ten or even several decades on it. Yet, in less than two months, you've produced a physical ship that passed its test flight, you even went to Asgard to have a Dwarf Smith enchant it.. You're in such a rush, what kind of enemy are you facing?
"I don't know," Joseph said.
"What?" Colt sat up abruptly.
I don't know, I'm just an employee. Cosmic Crisis, Ragnarok—I don't know any of that." Joseph stood with his hands on his hips, looking at his son. "What, even if you knew who the enemy was, could you actually charge ahead of the superheroes and help take them down?
Colt pulled the light screen back to cover his face and fell silent.
He was merely curious; if it were Ragnarok, or a Cosmic Crisis that could make half of all life disappear, a tiny Interstellar Warp Ship could never influence the outcome of the battle. This ship, capable of autonomous piloting, was more like a reconnaissance vessel. Perhaps it was only used to scout certain special areas, then perform suicide attacks at critical moments.
Tony's anxiety didn't flare up, so it shouldn't be a major problem.
Colt did not press for answers, because after all, there were too many enemies on Earth, ranging from the slumbering Ancient Gods to the demons of Hell, even the Darkened Vigilante or Super Villains from parallel universes—there were so many that a list of them could circle the Earth, their Earth was located in a luminous universe, protected by so many heroes, that it would not be easily destroyed by enemies.
Tony tried to use science to replicate the Dwarf Smith's enchantment, while Joseph wore a quantum helmet every day in an attempt to find the legendary World Tree; neither of them had any intention of returning to Earth Simulator.
Colt drifted through Asgard like a ghost. To him, the atmosphere of Asgard was no different from the dead deserts of Mars; after all, no one could see him, he was becoming increasingly worried about Timothy.
Timothy was using coffee to stay alive; he had already gone through seven cups, each reducing his energy by ten percent, by the eighth, he had switched to a stimulant, having gone seventy hours without closing his eyes. Of course, seventy hours without sleep was not Timothy's limit, but no matter how busy he had been before, Timothy would always squeeze out time for power naps to rest his eyes; this time, he couldn't even find a moment to blink, so he must have run into trouble.
Asgard is not networked with Earth, since Joseph took the helmet away, Colt has no way to contact Timothy. If Timothy doesn't sleep, they won't be able to meet in their dreams.
Colt felt a sense of panic and poked Little Red Bird at the Dream Station.
[98↑.. This is getting a bit bad..]
Timothy's fatigue level suddenly spiked, hitting 98 and continuing to rise, its color as dark as ink, but Timothy neither rested nor used anything to extend his life.
No, he couldn't wait any longer.
Colt went to find Joseph, "Dad, I want to go back to Earth Simulator."
“Wait a little longer, aren't you curious about the legendary World Tree?” Joseph murmured. “I heard that the World Tree can grant wishes; perhaps it can bring Alisa back to life and let you escape the dimensional rift.”
Colt looked at the madness in Joseph's eyes and deleted the typed sentence letter by letter. His mother wasn't the protagonist and wouldn't be so easy to resurrect, falling into the dimensional rift was his own choice.
Colt poked Little Red Bird at the Dream Station again.
[99↑, you can't die..]
Will reaching 100 fatigue result in death?
Red Robin is the protagonist; he won't die that easily.
This world has not fallen into darkness, superheroes do not die so easily.
It was as if voices were shouting loudly in his mind.
Colt did not listen. He pressed his hand against his chest and asked himself: What if? If I were to lose Timothy and my life returned to the past, would I still be able to adapt to a heart as still as dead water, focusing solely on the pursuit of knowledge?
Perhaps, but it would be extremely painful.
If Timothy were lost, I would never again be able to see those ice-blue eyes that could see into my soul, never again feel a warm handshake, a burning embrace, soft lips.. could I accept that?
No.
Just the thought of it sent a sharp pang through his heart.
Colt closed his eyes and began packing his things. His suitcase was already in the cockpit of the mecha; he only needed to take some water and food, then stuff Cole Duck into the escape pod.
Colt left messages for Joseph and Tony, then piloted the mecha toward the Bifrost.
Heimdall, the guardian of the Bifrost, refused to open the transport: "I'm sorry, you need His Majesty's permission before I can send you to Earth."
Colt didn't argue, instead jumped straight down from the bridge.
"There's a space turbulence below!" Heimdall shouted.
Colt naturally knew, which was why he had prepared water and food.
Amidst the spatial turbulence, the mecha activated three energy cores and deployed its shield protector at maximum intensity, transforming into a massive orb of light that was hurled into the dark void.
Tim, wait for me!
Chapter 46
Near Centaurus.
The glowing mecha had just been thrown out, before its Shield Protector could fully retract, it was caught in a metal net and dragged into an ugly alien Interstellar Warp Ship that resembled an anglerfish.
Colt infiltrated the ship's control center to gather intelligence. Although the text was difficult to understand, the video footage was enough to make him realize that this ship belonged to some slave owner. The opponent was merely passing by, after spotting a mecha capable of warping, they cast a net as a side note, which ended up catching Colt.
Ghost has extremely high destructive power in areas with network access, especially regarding interstellar warp ships that rely too heavily on intelligent systems.
Colt couldn't be bothered to distinguish which people on the Interstellar Warp Ship deserved to die and which did not; he directly sabotaged the ship's Power Reactor to ensure no one inside could escape, then awakened the slaves trapped in stasis pods, finally used the ship's interstellar network to send a distress signal to the Green Lantern responsible for this sector..
A few minutes later, Colt drove his mecha out of the Interstellar Warp Ship, which was now as lifeless as a dead fish. He turned back to take a photo, activated the FTL Module, prepared to warp.
Colt did not need star charts.
The positioning watch produced by Dream Station was very reliable; the tiny needle pointed steadily toward Earth, Distance: 4.22 light-years. Unfortunately, due to various restrictions on the Knowledge Explorer in reality, Colt could only craft an FTL Module that barely reached D-grade, making it impossible to warp directly back to Earth.
Colt performed a total of five warps, arriving in the Solar System during the fourth warp and only appearing above Earth on the fifth.
The short period of continuous warping caused the mecha's outer shell to separate. Five of the six propulsion systems were destroyed, including two critical energy cores. Only one Power Reactor remained, struggling to survive and barely maintaining a minimum level of Shield Protector.
Colt calmly recorded the issues that needed improvement, while simultaneously using his Spiritual Power to shroud the mecha to prevent satellite detection, employing a Ghost field to buffer the descent.
The mecha fell into the ocean.
Colt gradually withdrew his spiritual power, letting the Knowledge Explorer slowly sink to the bottom of the sea.
Since leaving Asgard, only five hours have passed, Gotham is just dozens of miles away.
Inside the Dream Station, Little Red Bird was gasping for breath: [99 ↑, I can't die..]
Colt put the Knowledge Explorer into standby mode, left his luggage with the mecha, then stepped onto a Flying Skateboard, rushing toward Red Robin's location by following the coordinates on his watch.
Red Robin was trapped in a mine thousands of meters deep.
Colt's Spiritual Power was faster than he was, piercing through the rock and debris from thousands of meters away to sweep toward the depths underground.
Colt rarely used his Spiritual Power for large-scale scans. This was because five years ago, his Spiritual Power had unexpectedly surged, allowing him to project it outward. He had excitedly scanned Oak Tree Manor, only to find that the scan was deep-seated; everything that had ever happened on this land—including information regarding matter, energy, time, space—had surged into his mind, nearly causing his brain to explode.
The massive amount of information could be managed by expanding his brain capacity, but the content of the information nearly crushed Colt's consciousness.
The wealthy community appeared glamorous on the surface, but it was rotten to the core, with sin buried in almost every house. Colt also witnessed Alisa's death; under a spiritual power scan, the Joker was not human, but rather unspeakable chaos and madness. Colt felt as if he were facing an ancient god, with tentacles erupting from his throat.
The abilities of the Quantum Ghost saved Colt. Using the advantage of data, Colt isolated and cleared the contamination, but the fear of the Dark Abyss became a virus that could not be deleted. Since then, Colt has learned to be a true Ghost, choosing to see and do nothing, pursuing only knowledge.
Then again, in just a few short months since connecting with Timothy, Colt's progress in spiritual power micro-control has been greater than in all the past years combined.
Colt overcame his fear, forcing himself to focus only on the present.
It worked. The bloodshed and atrocities that had once occurred within the mining area had turned into layers of thick black mist, rather than manifesting as images and emotional information that would be unbearable for a human to endure, being thrust all at once into the brain.
Colt ignored the black mist and finally saw Red Robin and dozens of trapped miners.
Red Robin was trapped deep within the collapsed mine, one leg stuck and unable to move. His communicator was broken, his locator might be malfunctioning as well; Batman's excavation direction had deviated and was still hundreds of meters away from his position. But Red Robin did not give up; he huddled in the darkness, using a long pole to pry up rocks and a Batarang to dig, attempting to free his trapped leg.
Being able to feel pain is a good sign; it proves that this leg doesn't need to be replaced with a fake one.
Red Robin thought optimistically that he had greeted Red Hood before coming down, so the enemies hadn't had time to destroy the mine's ventilation system; they had only blown up a section of the exit. However, the collapsed area was extremely difficult to rescue, as time passed, the oxygen levels underground were getting lower and lower. Not far from him, about twenty people were gathered, taking turns using three oxygen masks.